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8 Jul 2019
Beatmap Spotlights: Spring 2019
Beatmap Spotlights: Spring 2019
The sun is shining brightly and it's hot outside, so you shouldn't be outside during these dangerous times! Instead we have prepared a nice package of awesome mapsets from last season for you to spend some time with. Come take a look and earn a fancy new medal for yourself by playing them all!
The beatmap charts for the Spring Spotlights can be found here. Their respective packs are available at the Beatmap Pack Listing for easier access. The Spring 2019 Spotlights rankings will end on the 15th of September, 2019.
Winter Spotlights results
First of all, congratulations to the winners of the Seasonal Spotlights: Winter 2019. They will receive 3, 2, and 1 month of supporter for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively for their efforts!
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Spring 2019 Spotlights
osu!
A mapper who is reputable in the community for their unorthodox music taste and style, squirrelpascals, brings forth a very fitting interpretation of Hyakkei's "kagefumi".
This mapping contains unique stream patterns, minimalistic slider velocities, characterized slider shapes, and much more. squirrelpascals underlines the core portions of this chill, tranquil, math rock song with clarity and accentuates their features fantastically through distinctive design choices that align with the song's simplicity.
This is not to take away from the Insane difficulty however, as not only it is sure to give an enriching experience to the less skilled players, those well versed may still find it engaging in its own right. With more emphasis on greater slider movements, the difficulties compliment each other with their slight varied approaches to the song; while both capturing it's integrity faithfully. This is a truly refreshing mapset overall that stands out among the many maps in the ranked section!
written by faygo
sammish manages to make 17 minutes feel like 5 in his map of Tennyson's "Uh Oh! EP".
The hard work he puts into expressing each song's personality shows — and obviously pays off. The map feels smooth to play all the way through and aligns very closely to Tennyson's unique, funky style of music.
This is a phenomenal debut from both sammish and Tennyson in the ranked section and we hope to see more from them in the future!
written by squirrelpascals
AIR displays their usual prowess in Yin Lin's "Lu Gu Xun Meng", a traditional-sounding Chinese ballad. They skillfully craft dynamic jump patterns through expert use of slider velocity changes, repeating slider shapes, and varied geometric arrangements.
As always, the map has a lot of contrast, with every separate section of the map feeling a unique and close match to the features of the song. The hitsounding, also done by AIR, follows the same idea, adding to the experience. If the top difficulty is a bit too jumpy, be sure to check out the Insane and Hard which maintain the same concepts as the top difficulty, but at a more manageable level.
written by Nao Tomori
Last time we showed you the orchestral arrangement of the song "Kyoumen no Nami" by YURiKA, but this time we have the stunning original full version from Vell.
Not fazed by its characteristic polyrhythms, he captures the song's beauty perfectly with his movement choices and hitsounds which definitely elevate the map, making it something worth checking out. Darky1's storyboard once again adds to the atmosphere for a great gameplay experience as one might be familiar with other Vell maps.
Don't forget to check out the lower difficulties by Stjpa and Smokeman which both also manage to follow the song in a very enjoyable way.
written by Icekalt
Capturing the essence of a song can be considered a herculean feat for a mapper, and this map gets the job done.
Vell once again takes off the brakes and delivers another masterpiece of contemporary mapping with sukekiyo's song "focus".
In tune with the music along Darky1's storyboard, the map follows the baroquian motif of vanitas through which it blooms into a thundering roar of raw emotion to then just as quickly fades away into nothingness. All the while, it showcases pristine mapping along with the natural melodic texture.
Do not deprive yourself of such an experience.
written by Smokeman
A sharp contrast from recent trends of electronic and anime music, Yuuya_ke delivers a strikingly simplistic, yet effective mapset of Ricky Montgomery's "Line Without A Hook".
The highly emotive indie track is accented beautifully through a level of flow and rhythm mastery unprecedented from most mappers' first ranked mapsets. Regardless, Line Without A Hook doesn't disappoint in highlighting how even rudimentary patterning can culminate into a moving, well-polished product that'll leave you begging for more.
written by Toy
osu!taiko
Starting off the list of spotlighted maps for this season, we have a mapset extraordinaire coming from SKSalt; a relatively old mapper that some considered to be ahead of their time back in the day. Even today this holds true, as this rendition of "Ylil's overed landscape" by xyst masterfully exemplifies!
There are so many things to say about this map, such as ranging from a load of seven refined difficulties to make sure players of all skill levels are in for a treat. Amazing spread management which helps less-experienced players advance to the next stage, and last, but most certainly not least, the sheer creativity and execution you can see in the top difficulty.
Speaking of which, boy, ohh boy is it hard. Insanely hard. You might expect "pp map" when you look at it's BPM and Star Rating, but let me tell you: this is anything but ordinary. The way 1/6 patterns are arranged will keep your fingers dancing constantly during the intense parts, as do the streams, which also feature a mix of longer 1/6 bursts; up to 13 notes in a row, which is not easy to keep up with at 200 BPM, especially with their rather unusual colouring! Also, the Slider Velocity manipulation will demand your eyes to adjust quickly as it gets increasingly faster along with the song's intensity, befitting it perfectly!
If you're not ready for the challenge this difficulty provides, you should give komasy's Inner Oni a shot! It's still quite challenging and an absolute joy to play through, just like the other difficulties are.
A blooming start to this season's spotlights, and an absolutely deserved winner to it!
written by Greenshell
As one of the most liked mapsets for the season, "GOODWORLD" by komasy is a perfect example of a carefully crafted mapset from the beginning and establishing a consistent style across it.
While one could easily just praise komasy's good taste when it comes to patterns and the way they are emphasized by the slider velocity changes he uses, it would fall short if we did not also talk about how the entire mapset consists of difficulties that are crazy good as standalone diffs. This is proof of how powerful his expression is, if nothing else.
Truly a masterpiece.
written by Kazu
Coming as a close third place, "Rebellio" mapped by Greenshell is in this season's spotlights with its impressive management of intensity and flow between patterns.
Greenshell managed to create a mapset that perfectly captivated the frantic feeling of the song, with a very polished patterning that matches the intensity of the song in a very pleasant way. Every single part of the map is warning you of the forthcoming chaos across the entire set, resulting in a flawless map overall.
written by Kazu
If you are looking for stamina challenges for this season, Zekk's "Sugary Daydream", hosted by TKS with the help of Raiden and [Chichinya], is likely a promising choice with the high BPM nature.
Being a very experienced mapper in the Taiko community since their appearance in 2013, TKS never ceases their mapping enthusiasm to amaze people with this thrilling creation. The top difficulty features 1/6 and 1/8 bursts that arrange incredibly well with the packed 1/4 patterning, while comfortable density transitions are shown correspondingly among sessions with a different pace. High consistency is also maintained throughout the set with a relatively reasonable spread spectrum, making it fun and satisfying to play.
The daydream is apparently sugary, but I recommend you to brace yourself for the real bitter nightmare it envelops.
written by Nardoxyribonucleic
Since the "City Never Sleeps", you know something's keeping it up on its toes, and this rendition of Dirty Android's track mapped by Lyawi does just about that as well!
The thing that's keeping you on your toes while playing is not an insanely difficult map in this case, however. What sets this set apart from others is that each difficulty provides a good challenge for all beginners trying to advance to the next level, as each of them is mapped in a fairly dense manner while maintaining good flow and going along with the song nicely. Stefan's guest difficulty further assists the idea of that set as well.
Generally, the set as a whole is as clean as it can get and it's a great map to debut within the Ranked section and the Spotlights as a mapper!
written by Greenshell
One of Axer's most eccentric maps, "Flags on the Moon" does a really good job at staying true to the song through all these rough time signatures, syncopations and multiple changes of rhythm that make it very difficult to follow through, which ends up being a challenge to time perfectly for these steady beat accuracy players.
For this reason, Axer has a very well deserved his place on this season's spotlights for his advanced patterning skills and carefully polished gameplay-centred mapping style.
written by Kazu
Most the people who like Ulqui as a mapper are well aware of one thing that makes him stand out and it is exactly the reason "ROLLING PANDEMONIUM" is such a great map: he focuses his mapping on what he feels will work for the song.
Often times this results in a unique interpretation that is very hard to replicate in most scenarios. However, this time Myckoll has managed to adapt perfectly to this. Both mappers did an amazing job at making a heavy stamina drainer that feels good to play and doesn't feel unfair at any point, which is a very difficult task to do overall.
Congratulations to both for getting this map into the Spring 2019 spotlights!
written by Kazu
While not especially fancy in this month's release, mintong89's map remains impressive by its very consistent patterning and temperate use of speed velocity changes.
This is accented further by clever use of doublet patterning to make the map more variable, and together these things combine to make a map well worthy of the Spring 2019 Spotlights.
written by qoot8123
There was just no way the winner of the 6th osu!taiko Japanese Beatmap Contest wouldn't appear in this season's Spotlights, and we congratulate namaniku and all the guest mappers of this mapset for their incredible work!
"Nobodyknows Eden" is such a great art piece when it comes to music and a very solid, fun map when it comes to its design choices, which features syncopated rhythms with odd-numbered patterns that make it feel special. Its tricky approach to the flow between patterns, together with carefully placed 1/6 patterns results in a clear winner for both its original competition and this search for the best maps of the season!
written by Kazu
As usual, every time a new metal song rises as one of the best maps you can be sure of two things: first, that it is a blast to play and it feels like you're part of the band, and second, it is as brutal as it gets, with incredibly stamina-draining patterns that go on forever as these guitars do their job.
"A Red Letter Day" by LZD has a well deserved place in the Spotlights as it is truly one of those gems that you just HAVE to play if you enjoy Metal. They definitely nailed it on their mapping with an excellent sense of contrast ranging from the calmest, climatic patterns and the chaos in his really bursty streams.
written by Kazu
Can you guess what is inside this evil brew? Dictate's "Cauldron" is a neurofunk track from one of our very own Featured Artists, which is a relatively new and fresh genre featuring in the osu!taiko mapping community for the first time with this set.
Although the song is a bit repetitive, Nepuri manages to keep the top difficulty interesting by extensively blending weird snaps and rapid slider velocity changes. The BPM is indeed comparatively low at 140, but do not underestimate the complexity as the set follows a harder mapping design throughout, while keeping a good balance of spread.
Be aware of this dangerous concoction. It will be an alternative experience for drummers, I would guarantee.
written by Nardoxyribonucleic
While this song's title may suggest a lucid dream, "I Can Fly In The Universe" is actually a six-minutes long psytrance track by the widely beloved composer Camellia.
This map by Genjuro is a beautiful translation into a pleasantly hit-sounded and engaging map featuring many slider velocity changes and technical patterning. Containing not only 1/6, but also 1/8 snaps mixed into the regular 1/4 patterns, with the aforementioned slider velocity antics blending into it perfectly, resulting in quite the challenge to everyone, while still providing a unique sensation to play.
This concludes it for this season's Spotlights for osu!taiko, and it sure shows the mapper's blooming potential!
written by Greenshell
osu!catch
It's not a surprise that alienflybot mapped a new outstanding catch map again! This time his song choice is "FLASH BACK" by Reol. With dynamic electronic instruments and vocals, the map is pleasing to enjoy.
The stream patterns in both diffs are carefully built up and have some innovative jumpy patterns. They are absorbing and excellent for play. Don't be tricked by the star ratings, these maps are challenging! However, you'll definitely like this epic work after you give it a try.
written by Yumeno Himiko
Rocma mapped the full spread of "XINOBIKILL" himself, showcasing his mapping expertise despite being a newcomer to the group of ranked catch mappers.
The map was aesthetically well made, incorporating many antiflow patterns that often does not play well in osu!catch smoothly during highlights. Specifically, the 1/6 curves used in the overdose difficulty displayed his understanding of flow. Overall, I would like to congratulate him on proving himself to be a skilled mapper so early in his mapping career!
written by Snowless
"Butterfly" by Kors K is your pretty average rhythm game song: complex and interesting rhythms which are easy for an experienced mapper to follow along.
However, Minato Yukina took a completely different approach and focused primarily on simple 1/2 and 1/1 rhythms such as the vocals or kicks, and using these limitations to create simple patterns that focus on the precision with dash timing and simple memorization.
The end result is an extremely unique experience that few other maps do similarly. Don't miss out on this mapset.
written by Sinnoh
"fffff" by Ascendance was a pleasure to play for many players, new or experienced. He proved to be a proficient mapper in his top difficulty EX, where he incorporated fast edge-dashes which are often avoided by other mappers. Through this, he successfully created a map that challenges players in a way most other maps have not in the past.
This is not to discount from the lower difficulties, which mapped accordingly to the upbeat feeling of the song and kept the tempo going without going overboard on fast beats.
written by Snowless
osu!mania
Though it took nearly two and a half years for it to reach the ranked section, Tidek and _underjoy's "Suiren" more than deserves its spot in spotlights.
Tidek's 4k Blossoming Lily is a sheer masterpiece in terms of musical relevancy and intensity. The full range of emotions in the song is represented by repetitive patterning, polyrhythms, trills, and jumpstreams that heavily rely on the flow and pitch of the piano itself in the music. This culminates into two vibrantly intense climaxes represented by challenging glut patterning.
_underjoy's 7k Fairy Dance utilizes the higher keymode's ability to represent pitch to the max, combining incredibly challenging chord streams and jacky sections with beautifully arranged pitched-based patterning for the calmer sections of the piece. The difficulty itself is visually magnificent as well and really shows _underjoy's prowess with 7k patterning when given a song so complex.
written by -MysticEyes
Vortex- joins the ranked section with a spectacular chart along with guest difficulties from Civilization and qqqant! Each difficulty, whether it's the easiest or hardest, captures the uniqueness of "Frums" respectively to their difficulties.
The technicality of this set is not something usually seen in ranked and the mapset is challenging to many players while also having a very strong structure.
written by Dergo
Oh, "ExaVid". What can I even say about ExaVid to bring it justice? Masterfully crafted and structured, this map contains beautiful usage of all sorts of known concepts such as chord allocation, grace notes, and pitch relevance; but on top of that, Abraxos weaves into the map a whole bunch of concepts that he defines himself.
Even without knowledge of this structure, it is apparent while playing this map that it clearly reflects the intensity and complexity of the music at every point. The more complex sounding a part of the music sounds, it's guaranteed to have some sort of gimmick, be it an unconventional use of minijacks or intentionally awkward releases; likewise for the most simple parts, represented as lightly as they should be.
Even looking at it now, after it has been ranked, I see things about the map that I never noticed before. This map is just decorated with an intricacy that any regular, average mapper usually cannot achieve. Thus, it well deserves its place in the Spring spotlights of 2019. Lastly, I would like to thank Abraxos for teaching me how to clean my room, be sure to purchase his book on his 12 rules for life.
written by qqqant
"o'er the flood" is definitely one of the most popular and well-exposed 7k sets for this year with its appearance in the 2017 7k MWC while recently bypassing a staggering favourite count of 100.
Blocko, with the help of a couple of prolific mappers, were able to create this giant mapset of 8 diffs with a most interesting song choice for 7k. With each guest difficulty providing some artistic flair, all of these difficulties come together and encapsulate the general feel of the track.
Both fluidity and rigidity are utilized to provide an apparent sense of difficulty progression in each difficulty which accounts for the song duration while highlighting the heavy percussions present in the track. Ranging from the unorthodox patterning for the lower diffs to the aggressive barrage of notes for the higher difficulties, the set slowly but surely progresses into an aptly named "torrent" difficulty which is a great test of skill.
It takes the ETness of Blocko to combine both quality and popularity in such a groundbreaking set as this.
written by Lenfried-
It's about time Spotlights gets an anti-meta set and with that, we have Asherz007's "Protoflicker".
Generally played for its top diff, Protoflicker manages to bring forth a solid concept of enforcing chord usages in a very fun fashion where the pace of the song is conveniently placed in just the right speed for introductory chord mashing.
The progression between difficulties, in general, share a common feel of rigidity which gets more and more apparent as the players scale up both between difficulties and throughout playing the song.
A definite must-try for anyone wanting to get into 6k.
written by Lenfried-
Another fantastic song by aran comes with a fantastic chart from -MysticEyes! Each difficulty brings fun and challenging taste to the players. The top two difficulties of the set, Another and Impedance, once again put long notes to the test.
The top difficulty brings a creative way of implementing long notes which is not usually seen in ranked! The map sure brings hype and definitely earns a place in the spotlights!
written by Dergo
yetii made a strong first impression within the ranked scene with his map "Overkill".
It was clear to see the amount of time and effort he had put into his map, most noticeably with the slider velocity changes.
Each change in speed correlated immensely well with the song making it both incredibly fun to play and easy to read.
The patterns used throughout the map, more so during the more intense sections of the song, flow incredibly well and are smooth to hit making every miss feel fair.
This being yetii's debut to the ranked scene, there will be more to come from this guy, and I can't wait to see what's in store!
written by CrumpetFiddler
The spreadsheet is available for everyone who is interested to take a look at how we selected these mapsets. Do not be afraid to take a look at it here!
We hope you enjoy our selection for this season and look forward to what we will bring to you in the future. Until then, happy circle clicking, drum bashing, fruit catching, and key smashing! Do not forget to have a rest occasionally!
—Kurokami
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